Educational institutions play a vital role in preparing students to practice ethically throughout their Professional careers. It is increasingly evident, however, that students enter biomedical science graduate programs with experience in and perspectives on scientific practice that shape their acceptance of instruction on the responsible conduct of research (RCR). Thus insight into what entering graduate students know about the concepts and standards of RCR is crucial to the successful design and implementation of training programs in research integrity. The long-range goal of this research is to stimulate and reinforce ethical behavior among biomedical science students during their graduate education and subsequent careers through well-designed and well- implemented RCR courses. The objectives of this study are to evaluate the baseline knowledge and understanding of RCR among incoming graduate students at four academic health science centers, and to identify how these students gained that knowledge. The hypothesis to be tested is that new graduate students have widely variable knowledge of the ethical standards of scientific research and widely variable levels of experience in their application. This hypothesis will be tested through: 1) the development of an objective test on the core concepts and standards of RCR that can distinguish among a variety of levels of education and experience; 2) the administration of this test to a cohort of entering graduate students in four academic health science centers; 3) a survey of this same cohort to identify the sources of their knowledge and understanding of the core concepts and standards of RCR and perceptions of their value; and 4) assessment of the variability in knowledge and understanding among this cohort's members in relation to gender and the country in which they received their undergraduate science education. The results of this research will help faculty and program directors charged with RCR education focus their teaching objectives and refine their methods by identifying areas in which students are most likely to misunderstand or be ignorant of essential concepts in scientific integrity. The test itself will also be readily adaptable to the evaluation of specific groups of students and others preparing for RCR instruction.